The electrical power needs of the data center industry, for example, continue to grow at a fast pace. In the past, data centers were strategically located near inexpensive, reliable power sources. Today, however, these locations are more difficult to come by, and pressure is mounting to find alternative solutions that will be less demanding on the utility power grid, particularly when electrical demand is high.
Despite many data centers having sufficient self-generation capacity from their diesel standby units, the viability of running these standby units to relieve the utility power grid is neither economically feasible, due to high costs of fuel, nor allowable by current air board restrictions that put limits on yearly hours of use. As a result, the function of diesel emergency units is purely for backup power at the data center during utility outages.
As should be appreciated, there is a continuing need to improve strategies of electrical power generation and distribution for facilities such as data centers, having demanding loads.